Chapter 268
All these gorgeous, never-before-seen flowers in this sea of blossoms, and she couldn’t just pick them. It was infuriating.
Faye Yardley asked, displeased, "Don’t we get a reward for completing the hide-and-seek game?"
The black-and-red cat paused, then said reluctantly, "The reward is three flowers."
"Kingston, three for you and three for me. Perfect. You pick the flowers you like. They seem to have special properties and significance, so don’t just pick them at random."
"Okay, Faye. How about you pick for me?"
But Faye Yardley believed everyone had different tastes and fortunes. "What I pick might not be right for you," she said bluntly. "You should choose for yourself."
Every flower had its own beauty. Faye Yardley carefully scanned high and low, not missing a thing. In the end, she picked her first flower from a low bush—a small, pink lily of the valley.
She had wanted to pull up the entire lily of the valley plant, but she was informed that was against the rules; she could only pick one small blossom from it.
And lilies of the valley bloomed in large clusters, after all.
But Faye Yardley wasn’t one to get hung up on things. If they only let her pick one, then one it was. She placed it in her inventory and moved on, searching for the second flower that was destined for her.
Cole Kensington’s choices were even more casual. He simply plucked whichever flower he found pleasing to the eye. He quickly finished and fell in step behind Faye Yardley.
He also didn’t subscribe to the idea that the next flower would be better than the ones he’d already picked.
It was a truly admirable mindset.
Not getting caught up in gains and losses—that was something Faye Yardley felt she needed to learn from him.
She was his complete opposite; she always felt that the next flower she saw was prettier than the one she’d picked.
’In such a vast sea of flowers, I can only pick three. The thought alone feels like a huge loss.’
"Number Ten, Number Ten!"
"I’m he~re..."
"Is there any other way to get more flowers?"
Ever since she’d picked that first pink lily of the valley, Faye Yardley had a strange feeling that something good would happen if she brought it back.
So if there was a chance to pick a few more, she was willing to put in a little effort.
A listless-looking cat with dull eyes answered weakly, "Sure. Hide-and-seek. You get one flower for every kitten you find."
’Did I squeeze this smoke cat too hard earlier?’ she wondered.
Faye Yardley quickly dismissed the fleeting thought.
There were actually quite a few people in the sea of flowers. Faye Yardley had encountered several, and they were all taking the game of hide-and-seek very seriously, searching high and low.
Spotting a huge flower taller than she was, Faye Yardley leaped up and slashed it down with Light Wound. A white smoke cat tumbled out from the flower’s center, and she snatched it. "Heh heh, got one. Three more flowers for me."
"Hey, that’s the cat I was looking for. Thanks for finding it for me."
Faye Yardley scoffed coldly. "Number Ten, can people just steal them like this?"
Rainbow No. 10’s eyes lit up as it stared at the white smoke cat in her hand. "Of course not! It’s yours."
It then pounced on the defenseless white cat in Faye Yardley’s hand, absorbing it directly into its body from the head down. Its own colors brightened by a couple of shades.
"That gets you two flowers. You can now pick four more."
Faye Yardley could hear the delight in its voice. It seemed Rainbow No. 10 was the one who had really benefited from this.
"So, the other cats I find... they can be yours?"
"Haha, a mutually beneficial arrangement."
Standing nearby, Cole Kensington turned to the black-and-red cat beside him. "Do you eat other cats? I can catch them for you."
The black-and-red cat was obviously tempted—a greedy glint flashed in its eyes—but its reason quickly took over. It shook its head. "I have no need."
"Hmph. ’Mutually beneficial’?" Faye Yardley’s hand shot out, grabbing Number Ten by the neck again. "You are not to eat another cat I catch without my permission. Otherwise, I’ll have the other cats eat you. If they don’t dare, I will!"
Rainbow No. 10 began to tremble. It never imagined that a god of death like her existed among this batch of Commonfolk tourists.
"Boss, you’re here too?"
It wasn’t just Gavin Donovan who was surprised; Faye Yardley hadn’t expected to run into them here either.
"Are you guys still looking for your cats?"
Gavin Donovan nodded. "Just me and these two little ones haven’t found ours yet. Everyone else left right after they found their cats."
"So you get teleported away as soon as you find it?"
Rainbow No. 10 was panicking. The grip on its neck was getting tighter.
"Yeah. Boss, did you find the wrong cat?" Gavin Donovan asked, looking at the cat in her hand with confusion.
The two children beside him didn’t understand either. ’So that’s what Miss Willow’s sister looks like,’ they thought. ’She really is pretty, but she seems to have a bad temper.’
Rainbow No. 10 whimpered twice, but it was the black-and-red cat that spoke. "You weren’t teleported because you yourselves chose to keep playing hide-and-seek. And you didn’t give us a chance to ask if you wanted to leave right away."
"Fine," Faye said, releasing the cat. "But remember, no unauthorized eating. Otherwise, I’ll make good on my promise."
Number Ten nodded frantically. As if it would dare. ’Strange, though,’ it thought. ’How did she even move? Why wasn’t I able to sense her at all before she had me in her grasp?’
Cole Kensington asked Gavin Donovan what their cats looked like, then immediately departed. He returned shortly after, a cat dangling from each of his hands.
They belonged to the two children.
Gavin Donovan immediately said, "Don’t leave yet. I’ll take them with me once we find mine."
Otherwise, two six- or seven-year-old kids would be sent out of the Dungeon by themselves. Where would he even find them after he got out? So, the best choice was obviously for him to leave with them.
They had agreed to meet at the childcare center after leaving, but that was when they didn’t think they had a choice. It would be stupid not to leave together now that they could.
It had to be said that with his abilities, it was far easier for Cole Kensington to find the hidden cats than it was for anyone else.
And with Faye Yardley’s good luck on their side, they found the cat Gavin Donovan was looking for before long.
The cats always hid within a five-hundred-meter radius, which was the maximum straight-line distance they could be from their seeker.
The task wasn’t easy, but who could have predicted their group had such exceptional members?
After Gavin Donovan found his cat, Faye Yardley called out to him, telling him to collect his reward of three flowers first.
"This is so infuriating! The cats must have left that part out on purpose. None of the others in our group were told about a reward."
"Never mind that. Just pick your rewards and go."
While talking to them, Faye Yardley also chose her third flower: a green Nine-headed Orchid. To her annoyance, she was still only allowed to pick a single small blossom from it.
’If only I could own this entire sea of flowers,’ she thought.
The thought was fleeting. When she got back, she could have Eamon plant some flowers. Although her raft was already completely entwined with Bramble, and the flowers that bloomed on it were quite colorful...
...it was nothing like the beauty of this place, with its endless variety of blossoms all vying for attention.
"Boss, we’re going to head out and find the others now."
Seeing a small green dot that remained stationary in one spot, Faye Yardley nodded. "Okay. See you back there."